Various types of articles for smokers are known which can contemporaneously contain a lighter and one or more unconsumed cigarettes, or which are provided with accessories which can be used to extinguish the cigarette, and exhibit suitable compartments into which cigarette ends can be inserted temporarily.
For example, articles for smokers are known consisting of a main body which is provided with at least a housing accessible from the outside, for inserting and positioning a lighter; an elongate cavity which is accessible from the outside, for example for containing a cigarette to be smoked; and an accessory which is provided with a cutting profile for cutting off the lit end of the cigarette which the smoker wishes to extinguish.
In particular, articles for smokers are known in which a suitable container is also provided in the main body, the container being accessible from the outside, and the lit end of the cigarette can be positioned therein, while a cutting element is present at the container, is movable with respect to the main body and is destined to be used to detach the lit part, once inserted into the container, from the remaining part of the cigarette.
Usually, in articles for smokers exhibiting a container for extinguishing the ember and for housing the lighter, the movable cutting element for cutting the lit part of the cigarette also serves as a closure and sealing element of the container, within which container the cut-off ember remains, after it has been detached from the cigarette.
The ways in which the movable cutting element in current articles for smokers is associated to the main body, and is made translatable with respect to the ember container, do not ensure the perfect hermetic closure of the container.
Further, since such articles are subjected to intense, frequent use, smokers particularly feel the need for an article which is durable, and which enables them to handle and move the movable cutting element in a totally simple, direct way—even using only a single finger of one hand—firstly to render the ember compartment accessible, and subsequently, after the lit part of the cigarette has been inserted in the container, to cut and detach the lit part of the cigarette from the remaining part of the cigarette, thereby closing the container with the ember to be extinguished inside.